Wa `alakum as-salam

 

There is a major barrier that’s blocking many Muslims from getting closer to Allah and improving their relationship with Him. This barrier is losing hope in the mercy of Allah. Sometimes people think that Allah will never forgive them because of the multitude of their sins. As a result, they slacken in performing their acts of worship and some even abandon them as they lose hope in attaining the mercy of Allah.  Allah addresses the sinful by calling upon him “Say: My servants, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (Az-Zumar 39:53)

 

Allah commands us to never lose hope in His mercy and forgiveness. Even if we have committed many sins, Allah forgives all sins except that of associating partners with Him.

 

The Prophet said:

“Allah created mercy in one hundred parts and sent down to earth only one part. Because of this one part, there is mutual love amongst creation, so much so that an animal will lift up its hoof from its young one, fearing that it might harm it. Allah has reserved the remaining ninety-nine parts of this mercy to favor His believing servants on the Day of Judgment.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

This hadith is a source of great hope in that Allah has reserved 99 out of 100 parts of mercy for the Day of Judgment.

We cannot abandon Allah due to our sins because no one is exempt from committing sins. However, we shouldn’t use Allah’s Mercy as an excuse to commit sins.

 

We should always have hope in the fact that no matter what we do, or how massive our sins are, Allah will always forgive them if we turn to Him sincerely in repentance and try our best to please Him.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Allah the Almighty said: “O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask from Me, I shall pardon you for what you have done, and I wouldn’t care. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness almost as great as it.’” (At-Tirmidhi)

 

To get His mercy, you need to take steps to Allah. The first step is to open a new page with Allah by declaring a sincere repentance Allah Most High says, “Turn towards Allah, O believers, every one of you, so that you may be successful.” (An-Nur 24:31)

He also says, “Ask your Lord for forgiveness and then turn in repentance to Him,” (Hud 11:3)
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The one who repents from sin is like the one who never sinned.” (Ibn Majah)

 

The conditions for repentance are well known:

1) you have to leave the sin;

2) remorse over having committed the sin;

and 3) resolve never to return to the sin.

 

If it relates to the rights of another person, you have to return the rights or property you have wrongly taken.

 

The second step, you must have confidence in Allah by trying to get married in order to block the avenues of Shaytan. The Prophet has been reported as saying, “There are three who are promised the help of Allah: a slave who wants to buy his freedom, the one who gets married seeking to keep himself chaste, and the one who fights in the cause of Allah.” (An-Nasa’i)

 

Whenever you think about marriage the Shaytan slackens you behind to keep you more indulged in sins.

 

The third step, you have to fix your relation with your parents and ask them to forgive you and ask them for their sincere supplications. You do not need him to reciprocate good feeling with you. I am sure when he feels you have already changed, he will change his attitude towards you.

 

Keep maintaining good treatment for the sake of Allah without expecting any reward from humans.

 

The fourth step, keep praying all obligatory deeds in the masjid for one full month in congregation provided that you keep making the salah at the first row. This is your healing remedy. I am sure if you do this for one full month, you will not come back to fornication again. There is a close relation between negligence of prayers and following whims and desires. The way to block evil desires is to join the caravan of those who punctually offer prayers regularly in masjids by catching and competing for first rows.

May Allah guide you to the straight path.